U.S. Relations with the People's Republic of China (2005)

State's Burns Sees Progress on U.S.-India Nuclear Accord in 2006

Under secretary, in New Delhi, says both sides still have obligations to fill

Following are the transcripts of the under secretary's interviews with New Delhi televisio:

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INTERVIEW
UNDER SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS R. NICHOLAS BURNS
BY SHIVRAJ PRASAD OF NEW DELHI TELEVISION (NDTV)

Roosevelt House
New Delhi, India

October 21, 2005

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QUESTION: But interestingly enough, isn't that a consideration in the Congress right now? There is all that debate on whether they should back changing domestic laws. That, in fact, there is this internal pull and push in India to maybe go softer on its stand on Iran given our own strategic ties with Tehran?

Under Secretary Burns: I will tell you I think the Iranians were disappointed by the vote in the International Atomic Energy Agency because only Venezuela voted with them. Russia did not vote with them. China did not. South Africa did not. India is a very big country. So India will decide what's in its best interests. Only India gets to decide that. We think the application of diplomatic pressure against Iran is beginning to have an effect. We think the Iranians are reconsidering their options. They have to be a little bit more reasonable. They are so isolated in the world. They are so harsh and uncompromising, this new government. There is a new government, new people, they are relatively inexperienced in government. They tend to have a very conservative view of the world. And we would hope that they would learn over time that countries can't always do exactly what they want. Countries have to cooperate with other countries, they have to listen, they have to compromise. We need to see more of that in Iran in the future.

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QUESTION: What about the international considerations? There has been the NSG, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, meeting that was deferred. There was disagreement there, bitter disagreement, and you had made it a campaigning point. Are you confident that you will be able to also meet those obligations, surmount them, when you finally go ahead with the deal?

UNDER SECRETARY BURNS: We think the meeting went well. The majority of countries there were very positive. There was maybe some disagreement; there were more countries in the middle. Some of them wanted to know more about the Indian developments and about the plans to separate the military and civilian nuclear facilities. So, I think when that information comes out, when India has had a chance to give countries a sense of their plan of how this transition is going to work and how India can meet its commitments, I'm confident there will be support from the Nuclear Suppliers Group. There already is strong support from a number of the European countries, from Russia and China, and that's very positive to start with that strong base.

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